Best PlacesBonfield, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bonfield, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bonfield ranks 12,559th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bonfield
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Bonfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bonfield ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Bonfield ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bonfield
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bonfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,098, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Bonfield's effective rate of 1.64%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bonfield
Bonfield runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bonfield.
Who works in Bonfield, and how
Work in Bonfield centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bonfield
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bonfield.
What the weather is like in Bonfield, month by month
Bonfield sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Bonfield
Chicago Midway International sits about 46 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Bonfield
Schools across Bonfield average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Herscher Intermediate SchB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Limestone Middle SchC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Herscher High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bonfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bonfield measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Bonfield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bonfield
Is Bonfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bonfield ranks 12,559th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, big-city access, and low disaster risk, and lowest on taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bonfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $212,196. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $84,098 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Bonfield safe?
Yes, Bonfield is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $163 per resident a year.
Compare Bonfield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bonfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bonfield represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Bonfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bonfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bonfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bonfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bonfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bonfield detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.